Scientific Management

Biological Parallel

Leaf-cutter ant colonies demonstrate Frederick Taylor's principles at scale: specialized castes perform optimized tasks (cutting, carrying, farming fungus, waste management) with size-matched efficiency. Each worker's morphology dictates their role—minims tend fungus gardens, medias cut leaves, majors defend—creating a division of labor more precise than any factory floor. The colony achieves 20-50 times greater biomass conversion than solitary insects through this biological Taylorism, where task specialization isn't managed but evolutionarily encoded.